83 thoughts on “Abdul, Like It Or Not”


  3. Nov 4, 2018 #SNL44 #MaggieRogers #SNL
    Democrats are confident in the blue wave coming to vote in the midterm election.

  4. the guardian: Wesley Bell wins Missouri House primary as Cori Bush comeback bid fails
    Wesley Bell wins in St Louis rematch dominated by Israel-Palestine issue
    The Democratic congressman Wesley Bell won his primary in the St Louis area on Tuesday, ending the progressive former representative Cori Bush’s bid for a comeback and blunting the momentum pro-Palestinian candidates have shown in recent elections.
    Bell unseated Bush, a democratic socialist who opposes aid to the US ally and accuses it of committing a genocide in Gaza, in the Democratic congressional primary two years ago with the help of millions of dollars in spending from pro-Israel groups. Their rematch this year came amid a spate of primary defeats of Democratic incumbents at the hands of progressive outsiders.
    On Tuesday, according to the Associated Press, Bell prevailed in the heavily Democratic district, making him the favorite to win a second term in the November election.
    “St Louis is up against a president that is coming after our healthcare, our due process, and the paychecks of working families,” he said, vowing to “keep standing up to this reckless and cruel administration every single day”.
    Amid a wave of anti-establishment sentiment, Bell’s victory bucks the trend, notching a win for moderate and pro-Israel Democrats.
    “Tonight’s result is another clear victory for Democrats who are focused on delivering results,” New Democrat Majority, a political action committee (Pac) that supports the centrist New Democrat Coalition, which invested $1m in the contest to defeat Bush. “Wesley Bell is focused on fighting to deliver for Missouri families, not fighting his own party.”
    Bush was first elected to the House in 2020 and served two terms as a member of “the Squad” of progressive lawmakers of color. The former congresswoman had sought to make the race a referendum on Bell’s support for US aid to Israel, working to channel progressive fury over pro-Israel spending on her opponent’s behalf.
    The United Democracy Project, a Super Pac aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), poured about $3m into helping Bell’s campaign overwhelm Bush on the airwaves. In a post on X, Aipac congratulated Bell on his victory.
    Bell was also backed by House Democratic leadership and the Congressional Black caucus, while Bush drew support from the Democratic Socialists of America and other progressive groups.
    The two candidates had squared off over who would better stand up to Donald Trump and spur growth in the St Louis region, which is managing the aftermath of a deadly tornado last year.
    On the campaign trail, Bell, a former county prosecutor, criticized Bush for voting against Joe Biden’s 2021 infrastructure bill, and for a comment in which she appeared to link both Biden and Kamala Harris to “fascism”. Bush said she opposed the infrastructure bill only because it did not contain spending on social services that Biden had promised, and that her words about the former president and vice-president were taken out of context.
    Bush hit back by accusing Bell of having his seat bought for him by Aipac. The congressman has said he is in favor of supporting Israel while opposing Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, and insisted that the group’s spending was not dictating his policy positions.

  5. also from the guardian: Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez survives Washington’s crowded primary
    Two-term Democrat faced attacks from the left and right     while defending a House seat in a territory Trump won
    The Democratic representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez secured one of two spots in the state of Washington’s crowded, all-party primary, overcoming criticism from both the left and the right to advance in one of November’s most closely watched US congressional races.
    The two-term Democrat – known for bucking her party on key issues – heads into the general election as she seeks to defend a district carried by Donald Trump in 2024 and a district that remains central to the battle for control of the House of Representatives. She will face the Republican state senator John Braun in November.
    Gluesenkamp Perez faced competing ideological pressures in a sprawling field that included Braun, a navy veteran backed by Trump, , and progressive Democrat Brent Hennrich, who mounted a challenge from the left, arguing the US congresswoman had drifted too far from the Democratic party. Six other candidates also appeared on the primary ballot.
    […]
    Gluesenkamp Perez, who has carved out a distinctive political profile, is viewed as one of the most vulnerable House Democrats. Since flipping the Republican-held seat in 2022, she has built support among moderates, independents and some Republican voters, often emphasizing her background as the co-owner of an auto repair shop and breaking with her party on high-profile issues such as immigration, transgender rights and Trump’s elections overhaul bill, known as the Save Act.
    That approach, however, increasingly alienated parts of her own party. Progressive critics argued she has too often sided with the president and Republicans, while supporters countered that her willingness to stake out opposing views reflected the realities of a district that has consistently backed Trump for president, most recently by about three points. They argue that ideological purity is less important than maintaining a foothold in Trump territory – and a seat that could ultimately help deliver Democrats the House majority in November. [continues]

  6. WAPO’s take: Takeaways from a big primary night in Michigan, Kansas, Missouri and more
    The Michigan Senate race remained too close to call, but Democratic ideological battles ended in mixed results in House primaries.
    The marquee race of Tuesday’s primaries remained uncalled as the night ended, leaving the Democratic nominee for a key Senate seat in Michigan unknown.
    Early Wednesday morning, Rep. Haley Stevens, a moderate preferred by the Democratic establishment, and Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official and favorite of progressives, were locked in a race too close to call.
    The Michigan Senate race exposed deep rifts among Democrats in how they approach Israel and money in politics and how they deem candidates electable.
    Across the country, similar ideological battles were waged with mixed results. And in two red states, voters rejected GOP-led ballot measures that would have given state legislators more power to reshape law on key issues, including abortion.
    Here’s a rundown from Tuesday’s primaries.
    Michigan’s marquee race remains unclear
    In November, the Democratic winner will face former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost his first Senate bid in 2024 and received an endorsement from President Donald Trump. Democrats will have a tougher time retaking the chamber if they lose the Michigan seat.
    The primary divided the Democratic Party between progressives, who saw El-Sayed’s left-wing politics as a way to energize voters, and establishment leaders, who viewed Stevens as a stronger candidate to win over independents and Republicans.
    The two candidates also personified Democrats’ struggle with Israel. Like others on the party’s left, El-Sayed called the war in Gaza a genocide and said he wanted to U.S. to end its military aid to Israel. Stevens, an Israel supporter, benefited from more than $30 million spent by the super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The group’s support, sometimes even rumors of it, fuels tensions as Democrats wrestle with articulating their stance on Israel without alienating voters.
    A progressive wins a key House primary
    In Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, voters chose a progressive over two centrist candidates in the Democratic primary. The district is among the 18 House races classified by the Cook Political Report, nonpartisan election analysis site, as a toss-up this year.
    Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence defeated Bridget Brink, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and Matt Maasdam, a retired Navy SEAL, and notched another big win for the surging left flank of the Democratic Party.
    Lawrence will run against incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett (R).
    The Democratic primary in Michigan’s 13th District also remained uncalled Tuesday. The incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar is trying to fend off a progressive challenge from Donavan McKinney, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
    Virginia Democrats choose contenders for key races
    Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District is headed for a rematch between incumbent Rep. Jen Kiggans (R) and former congresswoman Elaine Luria, who won a crowded Democratic primary. The district, anchored in Virginia Beach, is considered the most competitive in the state.
    Luria held the seat for two terms before she lost to Kiggans in 2022. Of incumbent Republicans in Virginia, Kiggans is most in jeopardy this year as Democrats look to flip red districts where Trump won narrowly.
    Incumbent Rep. Rob Wittman (R) is defending GOP territory with better odds in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District. In November, he will face Shannon Taylor, a prosecutor who won another crowded Democratic primary Tuesday.
    Tom Perriello, who won the Democratic nomination in the 5th Congressional District he once represented, faces much tougher odds. Perriello will face the incumbent Rep. John McGuire (R) in a district Trump won by 12 percentage points in 2024.
    A rematch sees a familiar end in Missouri
    Rep. Wesley Bell again defeated former congresswoman Cori Bush in the Democratic primary in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District. Bell’s win against Bush, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is a setback for the party’s left wing that has succeeded in defeating other incumbents.
    The Missouri race assessed the power of AIPAC as it did when the duo competed in 2024. AIPAC’s spending that year made the race one of the most expensive primaries in U.S. history and helped Bell unseat Bush. The former congresswoman, an ex-member of “the Squad” of several progressive lawmakers, harshly criticized Israel over the war in Gaza before some Democrats even began to question their stance. On the night of her 2024 loss, Bush hinted at a comeback bid: “AIPAC, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down.”
    The group spent about $3 million this year on lifting Bell to a second victory. He is favored to win in the solidly blue district.
    Washington sets up battleground contest
    On the West Coast, Washington’s most competitive district held a nine-way primary race that also featured a progressive-versus-moderate showdown among the Democrats. Washington uses an open primary system, meaning the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party.
    Republican John Braun, a former state senator who had Trump’s endorsement, and the incumbent Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez will compete in November. Gluesenkamp Perez, a centrist who is seeking a third term, overcame a challenge from the left by Democrat Brent Hennrich.
    The district, which went for Trump in 2024, is considered a toss-up.
    Voters deny GOP-led ballot measures
    Kansans rejected an effort to start electing state Supreme Court justices, delivering a blow to Republican state lawmakers who have long been frustrated by their rulings.
    For 68 years, Kansas governors have been required to appoint justices through a merit-based system. GOP legislators asked voters to scrap that system through a ballot measure that would have allowed the state to elect its justices directly. Critics viewed it as a gambit to remake the Kansas Supreme Court and enable its justices to revisit high-profile rulings that angered conservatives — including a decision that guaranteed a right to abortion. The effort was ultimately unsuccessful.
    In Missouri, voters turned down another measure pitched by GOP lawmakers that would have made it harder to pass citizen-led constitutional amendments. Voters in recent years have used such amendments to pass liberal policies, including preserving abortion access and legalizing marijuana.
    The failure of both measures from Republican lawmakers in red states shows the limits in trying to persuade voters to change election rules or cede political power, even at the behest of lawmakers they may support.

  7. Abdul El-Sayed captured Michigan’s Democratic Senate nomination, but it was no progressive runaway. Older voters and Detroit’s traditional base completely rewrote the script, turning a predicted blowout into an election-night nail-biter against Haley Stevens.

    Read my full post-mortem on why the polls missed the mark, the unexpected power of the Boomer vote, and what El-Sayed’s demographic gap means for the general election in November: BOOMERS ARE STILL HERE

  9. The Case Against Mike Rogers

    Mike Rogers wants you to think he is the champion of the Michigan working class, but labor leaders are holding the receipts. With a lifetime pro-worker voting record hovering around 11 percent from the AFL-CIO, his critics are screaming that he turns his back on skilled trades the second it is politically convenient. They are pointing to his history of voting against collective bargaining rights and his cozy corporate consulting gigs as proof he is just another suit cashing in on his time in Washington.

    Then there is the Trump elephant in the room. Rogers used to play the moderate national security lane, throwing jabs at the MAGA wing when he thought it was safe. But the second he needed to get on the Senate ballot, he flipped the script and kissed the ring to get the endorsement. Democrats are hammering him for this pivot, arguing that a guy who folds his principles that fast will just be an automatic rubber stamp for the White House. If he is terrified of his own base he is definitely not going to stand up for your paycheck or your retirement.

  10. Good substack piece, Poobah. As I noted over there, I don’t vote in Michigan, so what I say may mean nothing, but as what I consider myself as a moderate Democrat, I would be comfortable voting for El-Sayed on the policies he has run on, although Medicare for all may not (won’t) be a realistic goal as long as Dumbass is in the Oval Office and Dems have less than 60 votes in the Senate. He may have some problem with prior comments that seem to be anti-Israel, but he should be able to satisfy the Jewish voters in Michigan that he is not anti-Semitic, but rather he’s not a supporter of Netanyahu and does support a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine problem (if that’s his stance). If he can do that he should have a good shot at Rogers. Without that, I don’t see him drawing sufficient support in Michigan to win the seat.

  13. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!”
    That was the message that Missouri voters sent to the Republican legislature and governor. Loud and clear, 80% just didn’t vote no but “Hell No!” I’ve never seen a state wide ballot with such lopsided numbers. Not a single county voted yes all of them rejecting the constitutional amendments by over 40 percentage points. Does this smack down of the Republican legislature mean good things for Missouri Democrats? We will see. Missouri voters are good at voting in laws they want through the initiative petition and then voting for candidates determined to block their implementation.

    Jack.

  17. Today in the Diner…
    Abdul El-Sayed’s Michigan Win: What the Pollsters Missed

    Abdul El-Sayed secures a massive upset squeaker in the Michigan Senate Democratic Primary, defeating Haley Stevens to face GOP nominee Mike Rogers this fall.

    Well, Michiganders Michiganded. We dive deep into the late-night shocker as Abdul El-Sayed almost lost the Democratic nomination for the US Senate. By turning out older voters and commanding unexpected margins in Wayne County and Detroit, Haley Stevens erased a double-digit deficit against El-Sayed. Now, it’s time for Democrats to pivot away from APAC money battles and unite the progressive and corporate wings to protect DEMOCRACY.

    The general election target is locked on Mike Rogers, the former congressman who cashed in as a lobbyist in Florida before suddenly remembering his Michigan roots. The playbook is already written. We revisit Elissa Slotkin’s devastating attack ads against Rogers from a past cycle, proving exactly how to hit back against his corporate insider record.

    Plus, we dish out the rest of the day’s political absurdities. From MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell handing out illegal freebies at a Delano parade in his bizarre run for Minnesota Governor, to James Comer and Ken Paxton’s latest grifts in Texas, we cover all the bases. Grab a seat at the Diner.

    Live Chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat
    Website: https://trailmix.cc
    Alerts: https://trailmix.cc/alerts

    00:00 Intro
    05:27 El-Sayed Wins Wayne County
    16:00 Haley Stevens Concedes Michigan
    23:00 Slotkin Attack Ads on Mike Rogers
    28:00 Lindell Minnesota Governor Run
    34:00 Ken Paxton Wealth in Texas
    43:00 GOP Attacks on El-Sayed Heritage
    52:00 Detroit Voter Turnout Data
    01:02:00 Kornacki Calls Michigan Race
    — Human Prompted and Edited. Machine Drafted. (Gemini Pro)

  20. by Tod Maffin
    Follow me on Bluesky (or elsewhere)
    ▶️ All my videos • 👾 Join My Discord

    A couple of weeks ago, the American president went on live TV and told his citizens they can’t be trusted to elect their own leaders. A mostly random list of excuses — hackers, the deep state, the media, China. But the point was clear: Don’t trust the ballot box.

    This is the first step in what will be the removal of voting rights from hundreds of thousands of people. You don’t have to believe me. They wrote it all out in Project 2025:

    Election crimes shift to DOJ Criminal Division

    Reduction of federal help with voter registration

    Grants tied to DHS database access

    Civil Rights Division enforcement power to be weakened

    End of federal election misinformation efforts

    They’re right on schedule.

    If you’re in the U.S. and you’re feeling destabilized, let me propose an option: Canada.

    Here’s how we’re different, and how you can move here.

    Let’s start with the boundaries. Every ten years, Canada redraws its electoral map using independent commissions run by judges, not politicians. (Judges aren’t elected here.)

    T O D B I T
    Before 1964, MPs themselves redrew their own ridings through a House of Commons committee, a setup widely criticized as gerrymandering until Parliament handed the job to independent commissions instead.

    Politicians can object at public hearings, but they can’t overrule the final call. Compare that to the U.S., where state legislatures draw their own districts, which is a bit like letting a hockey team pick its own referees.

    Then there’s the count. We don’t use voting machines. In federal elections, we vote with a pencil and a paper ballot, and every single one is read aloud in a room where scrutineers from every party are standing close enough to object on the spot. It’s slow. It’s also very hard to hide anything.

    T O D B I T
    Before the 1867 and 1872 federal elections, Canadians voted out loud, standing in front of election officials and neighbours and announcing their choice by name.

    Nobody in government runs our elections. The Chief Electoral Officer does, and they’re appointed by the whole House of Commons, meaning every party gets a say, not just the current party in government. The term is ten years and it can’t be renewed, which removes any incentive to please the government of the day.

    The money works the same way. It comes from a kind of trust fund held outside the government budget, so no prime minister can starve Elections Canada by shorting its cheque.

    The Economist gave Canada a perfect ten out of ten on electoral process in its 2024 Democracy Index. They almost never give out perfect scores.

    I won’t pretend it’s flawless. We still use first past the post, after a prime minister promised to fix that and then didn’t. Our turnout could be better. And we could do a better job getting Indigenous and disabled voters to the polls.

    Trump’s speech tonight was dangerous. What’s next for the states? I think that’s both obvious and ominous.

    If you work directly with patients in healthcare, there is a path for you to join us here, work here, and become a citizen. Where your kids play soccer instead of doing active shooter drills. Where healthcare is a human right. And where your vote counts, no matter who you pray to, who you love, or where your family comes from.

    There are dozens of communities across this country ready to help you make that move. You can check them out at HealthcareInfusion.org, or check out my city, at NanaimoInfusion.ca.

    Donald Trump once said the border between our two countries was just a line. Fair enough. Most of the important ones are. The trick is knowing which side of it still trusts you with a pencil.

  23. https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/us–immigration-military-families-110937573.html

    AP Exclusive: Trump’s immigration crackdown has detained more than 50 military spouses and parents

    More than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained since Trump took office for a second term, and at least six have been deported and one self-deported, the AP found in the first accounting of such detentions, which the government does not track. At least eight immediate family members of U.S. service members remain in federal immigration custody.

    Parents and spouses of people in the military have generally been shielded from deportation under bipartisan consensus for decades. But the AP found they’re now routinely being detained for months as they try to adjust their legal status through the policies available to service members’ close relatives and even as the military continues to recruit by advertising immigration benefits for enlistees’ families.

    Experts warn that the reversal could undermine military preparedness even as the U.S. is at war in Iran. It’s left military members without emotional support and caretakers for their children, delayed deployments and forced some to take leave.

  24. There be a wide gap between the Court of Law and the court-jester of Dodo’s opinion. Jeanine was able this once to judge the difference.

    Ms. Pirro came prepared. She entered the White House from the West Executive driveway in a bright red blazer that matched her fight-back mood, schlepping a white box containing evidence, plus a black box with documents, on wheels.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/us/politics/trump-jeanine-pirro-showdown.html?searchResultPosition=1

  25. interesting diversity of Rhodes Scholars in the U.S. Senate, particularly if Abdul El Sayed joins Cory Booker and John Kennedy

  26. Chatting about the Sharia boogeyman with Merlin this morning:

    J: El Sayed won last night by the skin of his skinny chin chin, but I think he can pull off the General if the Democrats can avoid internecine warfare.

    M: El-Sayed won the Michigan Democratic Senate primary by roughly one percentage point, 48.5% to 47.5%, so “skin of his skinny chin chin” is mathematically fair. He now faces Republican Mike Rogers in November for an open seat Democrats very badly need.
    His path is real, but narrow. He will need Stevens voters, Whitmer-aligned moderates, labor, Arab American voters, Black voters in Detroit, and younger progressives all rowing in roughly the same direction. That coalition is not impossible in Michigan, but it does require Democrats to stop treating every internal disagreement as grounds for a ceremonial beheading.

    The Republicans will try to define him through Israel, Medicare for All, and his identity before he can define himself through healthcare, wages, and economic populism. His best general-election case is probably not “elect the progressive,” but “elect the doctor who will fight insurance companies and corporate power.”

    Reuters notes that Rogers and Trump began attacking him immediately after the primary, which tells us the general-election framing war has already started.

    So yes, he can pull it off. But Democrats will have to choose coalition over grievance archaeology. That has not always been their most polished skill.

  28. Those Slotkin ads have worn well. Might need to update them to account for his increase in net worth since he last ran. Of course El-Sayed and his wife probably aren’t all that bad off, but it ‘s not because of Abdul using his connections. He and Haley are playing well in the sandbox today. NYT

    On Wednesday morning, Dr. El-Sayed and Democrats from across the ideological spectrum raced to project party unity after a bitter and expensive primary campaign.

    Speaking at a rally in Detroit, Dr. El-Sayed hailed Ms. Stevens as “one of the most committed public servants that you’ll ever meet.” He also extended a hand to the broader electorate, urging voters regardless of party to support him if “you believe, like me, that you ought to be able to afford your groceries.”

    Dr. El-Sayed, the Michigan-born son of Egyptian immigrants, also issued a warning to Republicans who may seek to weaponize his name or otherwise engage in Islamophobic signaling.

    “My name is not raising your gas prices,” he said. “My name is not taking us to war. My name is not the reason you can’t afford your groceries.”

    Ms. Stevens called Dr. El-Sayed on Wednesday morning to concede the race, a spokesman for her campaign said. On social media, Ms. Stevens wrote that she had offered him “my full support as we work to defeat Mike Rogers.”

  29. From the Other 98%

    Elon Musk just got absolutely torched by a New York Times columnist after daring him to name a single person killed by his USAID cuts, and Nicholas Kristof delivered names, ages, and villages. When Rep. Ro Khanna cited research showing DOGE’s dismantling of USAID could kill millions of children, Musk fired back that critics “cannot cite a single name of someone who died out of the ‘millions’ they falsely claim have died. Not a single name!” It read like a challenge. Kristof accepted it.
    He came back with an 8 year old girl in South Sudan who died after her HIV medication funding disappeared, an infant who died of malaria in Liberia, and a 23 year old woman who bled out in childbirth because the diesel for ambulances stopped getting paid for. “I could go on and on,” Kristof wrote. “In almost every village you go to in South Sudan, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone or other countries I reported in, you find people dying because of aid cuts.”
    He didn’t stop there either, adding “we were saving 1 life every 10 seconds with USAID, and we cut that off abruptly with no time for countries to adjust. So kids died unnecessarily.” Then he invited Musk to see it himself: “Come with me on a reporting trip, and we’ll talk to these moms and dads, and you’ll see the dying children themselves.”
    Musk’s comeback was not exactly a rebuttal. He called Kristof “an utter piece of sh!t and a liar,” then doubled down with “Nothing that Kristoff has said is true,” misspelling his name in the process. He also tossed out “Time to sue this liar” and posted an image claiming to show militants using USAID branded shelter materials, captioned “This is how USAID spent your tax dollars,” offering no evidence for that one either.
    Not once did he engage with a single name Kristof actually gave him.
    The data isn’t on Musk’s side either. Zimbabwe’s health ministry reported malaria deaths more than doubled in early 2026, and a Lancet study projects the cuts could cause over 4.5 million child deaths by 2030. This isn’t a budget line anymore. It has names, ages, and villages attached to it now, and Musk still hasn’t answered a single one

  31. *If it weren’t for the anti-vaxxers and the masked, ICE Nazis who refused to wear masks during Covid, I’d suggest Abe L. Sayed’s nickname be Doc.

    From Elizabeth Warren’s email today:

    “We did it: Dr. Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Senate primary last night. Woo-hoo!

    Michigan voters just sent a powerfully important message that the many can beat the money.

    Now, we need to be ready to take on the GOP in the general. Abdul is a public health leader, a son of Michigan, and he’s ready to fight for everyone to have a better future. It’s time to unite around our Democratic nominee for Senate and win this race in November.

    Republicans know Michigan could decide control of the Senate. That’s why they’re already flooding this race with money to prop up GOP candidate Mike Rogers. He ran unopposed with Trump’s backing and $45 million in spending building him up.

    They think they can buy Michigan. We’ve already proven that they can’t — when we keep building our grassroots movement.”

  32. https://apnews.com/article/spacex-rocket-moon-crash-elon-musk-d64a98138fd19241700461c87b49e201

    Scientists are certain a wayward SpaceX rocket slammed into the moon as predicted

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A SpaceX rocket that launched a pair of lunar landers slammed into the moon as predicted on Wednesday after drifting off course for the past year, scientists reported.

    Although no one observed the actual 5,400-mph (8,700-kph) collision, a telescope in Chile spotted what astronomers have identified as the debris plume resulting from the crash. Space tracking experts said it was inevitable that the leftover rocket segment plowed into the moon.

    It’s the latest instance of lunar litter, a problem that many fear could worsen as the U.S. and China race to put astronauts on the moon. In 2022, a Chinese rocket unintentionally hit the moon following a lunar mission, and many more stray rocket pieces likely struck the moon in decades past without scientists’ knowledge.

    SpaceX’s Julianna Scheiman said this week that the company is working with NASA to avoid future wrecks, stressing that this projected crash was not deliberate. A combination of solar activity and gravity accidentally put it on a collision course with the moon, she said.

    Boston University’s Carl Schmidt said he is “100% certain” that his team’s observations revealed signs of the lunar crash.

    The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope detected a stream of sodium and lithium stretching for miles (tens of kilometers) into space for at least five to 10 minutes following the impact, he added.

    “We don’t have images of the impact” but there’s telescope evidence, Schmidt said in an email.

  34. Mike Rogers fled to Florida to count his special interest cash, but now he expects Michigan to send him to the Senate. You can’t make this hypocrisy up.

    Catch the latest from the Digital Diner:

  35. there was an article on craphoo about “what it means to be a dad” and it was pure ai slop and all the comments were “great article, just like my life, missing my dad”

    😒

    dead internet is here

  36. Top Secret Initial: The Unredacted Truth About Mike ‘J.’ Rogers

    So the Republican campaign machine is hyperventilating over Abdul El-Sayed’s full birth name, chanting every syllable like they’ve cracked a national security cipher. Meanwhile, their own candidate is listed everywhere as “Mike J. Rogers.”
    Just “J.”

    Congressional archives? Just “J.” Federal filings? Just “J.” Official biographical databases? Redacted down to a single initial.

    What is the campaign hiding here? Is it Jethro? Jubilee? Jellybean? Jaguar?

    If total name transparency is suddenly the prime test for public office, voters deserve to know what that lone letter is shielding.

    Until Mike Rogers releases the full, unredacted spelling, the public can only assume the “J” stands for Jellyfish.

  40. am i the only one following the max miller story

    how is that monster still serving, wtf is wrong with Ohioans and the GOP

    why was Platner such a big deal and this isn’t*

    *rhetorical, fascist-captured media is why

  41. This is how it’s done…
    Conservative radio host Erick Erickson on Senator Jon Ossoff:

    You talk to farmers in South Georgia, they can get him on the phone. They can get his staff on the phone. They can get help. You talk to Republicans in Houston County, very Republican part of the state, they know they can reach out to Ossoff, and he doesn’t care that they’re Republican. If they need something, he’s going to get it done.

  43. ok just asked someone who watches MSM news everyday and has for decades

    they don’t know about miller

    says it all

  44. oh the phony centrists like smerconish, but not just him, are using the Fuaci hearing to gin up maga/maha anti-Dem populism, trying to anyway

    be advised, midterm strategy

    media still covering rand paul’s week-old dog and pony show, miller not in the headlines, functioning as intended

  48. If Repugz don’t win everything they need in November, it won’t matter. Anyone think they’re going to relinquish power when they know there would be investigations and maybe jail time? Will MAGAts try to do something preemptively (false flag), use Elon’s cheat code, or just get violent after Election Day?

    All of the water things really Iran? Billionaires copycatting to steal resources?

  49. they’re going to relinquish power when they know there would be investigations and maybe jail time?

    surely not

    I’ve heard there are behind closed doors war gaming by governors concerning a Trump election take over attempt

  50. Oh, now ABC News says Iran was planning this for months before the USRael attacked them?

    I smell fried baloney.

  51. you can see how the techlords are using ai to clean up the headlines and suppress news on the search engines

    everything’s a “feed” or a summary now

  52. https://www.kmbc.com/article/kansas-governor-candidates-chiefs-stadium-deal-divide/73356607

    Chiefs stadium deal divides Kansas governor candidates

    Republican Ty Masterson and Democrat Cindy Holscher pulled through with 43% and 48% of voter support, respectively.

    Current (Democrat) Kansas Gov. Laura Kelley signed the stadium agreement, bringing the Chiefs to the west side of the state line back in December in what she called a “historic” announcement.

    Masterson (Republican) has backed the deal from the beginning and played a big part in the framework behind it as the president of Senate.

    “You’ll see it’s a great deal for Kansas. I mean, it’s billions in private sector investment. It’s hundreds of billions in income tax from the NFL alone,” Masterson said. “It’s thousands of jobs, which we need for our kids if we want our kids to stay in Kansas. They need opportunity. And that brings opportunity.”

    Holscher, on the other hand, is in support of the Chiefs’ big move, but won’t stand for the “billionaire giveaway” she says the current deal supports.

    “That exploratory part, you know, that was fine,” Holscher said. “But what was put together by Ty Masterson and a small group of lawmakers was a deal that was a billionaire giveaway.”

    “The Hunt family with this stadium won’t have to pay property taxes, but you and I and everybody else will,” Holscher said. “Additionally, it is just a huge giveaway in terms of potential future revenue that will take away money to fund our schools and our roads and highways.”

    *Not sure how this will play out. Kansans want the new stadium, but they don’t like billionaires leeching off of them, either.

  55. Remember the olden days, when the evening news wasn’t just orphan-crushing machine stories, and snippets about smaller fires and accidents when nothing big is ablaze and a plane hasn’t fallen out of the sky?

    Al Jazeera does a better job, and Le Monde, Der Spiegel, Irish Independent, and to some extent Sky News and BBC (but they are increasingly censored). Still, it’s interesting to see what’s being said about what happens and how long it takes to get to the US.

  56. Ty Masterson told the Repug meeting that Dems will keep gas prices high with their woke, climate change stuff. FFS!

  59. “if you believe you’ve received this message in error, please contact your local Ministry of Truth”

    “don’t worry we already did for you”

  60. Ted Cruz has been in fear since his Canadian conception. Western nations popularized the term “communist state” as shorthand to describe any country ruled by a Marxist-Leninist vanguard party. No country has ever achieved a “communist” society. Stalin’s regime and its successor was a totalitarian system. We ourselves are heading to a totalitarian system, but not because of Democrats.

  61. https://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/farm-policy-news/marshall-backs-away-from-california-prop-12-fight

    Marshall, originally a co-sponsor of the Food Security and Farm Protection Act, pulled away from the legislation Wednesday. However, the bill is still backed by eight Republication senators, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

    “We at the Rural Independence Initiative would like to commend U.S. Senator Roger Marshall for withdrawing his name as a sponsor of the Food Security and Farm Protection Act, the Senate version of the Save Our Bacon Act. We have long advocated that the so-called ‘Save our Bacon’ provision be excised from the farm bill. It takes away the right of states to set food standards, robs independent farmers of market opportunities, and further increases the power of corporate control over our food supply,” said Farm Action Fund President Joe Maxwell. “We salute Senator Marshall for listening and choosing independent farmers over corporate monopolies.”

    [Senator] Grassley advocated for passing a farm bill that eliminates Prop 12. “It ought to irritate members of Congress because one of the 18 powers of Congress, under the Constitution, Article I, is the power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce,” Grassley said. “So, we have one state out of 50, California, saying that you can’t sell pork in their state, and California’s about 15% of [the] consumer [pork] market in the United States, if it isn’t raised just exactly [how] the law of California says it should be raised.”

    *Roger Marshall was before it before he was against it.

  62. Hey everyone! I’m on the Amtrak train back from Chicago. As far as Mike Rogers…he was living in Florida and then moved back to Michigan for this election. He was actually living at his sister’s house when he announced his campaign.

  64. https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/05/texas-senate-james-talarico-election-law-residency-ken-paxton/

    Texas state Rep. James Talarico voted in five elections using his parents’ address after purchasing a home for himself nearby, a practice that may have violated state voting laws, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found.

    This comes weeks after Talarico accused Attorney General Ken Paxton, his opponent in the race for U.S. Senate, of voter fraud for similar actions. The news organizations reported in July that Paxton voted using an address where his estranged wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, said he hasn’t lived for two years.

    *So, that’s a wash, except Republicans are always “rules for thee, but not for me.”

    Paxton has made eradicating voter fraud a cornerstone of his time in office by advocating strict enforcement of the law, including in cases against voters who allegedly used false addresses when casting ballots. Paxton’s campaign has said he is a “lawful, registered Texas voter” but has repeatedly declined to answer detailed questions about his residency and voting history.

    Piecing together Talarico’s voting history is more difficult than it is for Paxton. Talarico, unlike the attorney general, redacts his address on the Travis County voter rolls under a state law that allows some public officials to shield personal information for safety reasons. But unredacted records Talarico’s campaign provided the newsrooms show that he listed his parents’ address on his voter registration in November 2021.

    He purchased a home in June 2022 but did not change his voter registration address until September 2024, the news organizations’ review of Travis County records shows. The new address is redacted, but Talarico’s campaign previously told the newsrooms that he currently lives and is registered to vote at the north Austin home he owns.

  65. It does bring up another point: Look how old you have to be to afford a first home.

    Paxton has about a dozen homes, totaling millions, and earns well-under $200k/year…which takes us back to his questionable deals and Nate Paul.

  66. https://www.thebarbedwire.com/ken-paxton-scandal-timeline/

    Ken Paxton Is No Stranger to Controversy. Here’s a Timeline of Nearly 20 Years of Scandals & Headlines.

    *More recently, and abject to voter registration addresses…

    2025: Mortgage Fraud Investigations
    Two weeks after Angela Paxton announced she was filing for divorce, an Associated Press investigation revealed that the Paxtons had been claiming three different homes (one in Dallas and two in Austin) as their primary residence, saving them thousands of dollars in mortgage loan payments.

    Paxton was also simultaneously collecting tax breaks on two different homes in 2018, via a homestead exemption that is only meant for a single, primary residence, according to reports from the AP.

    Other properties the Paxtons own, including a million-dollar “luxury cabin” in Oklahoma and a home in College Station, have been listed on rental sites, in violation of each residence’s mortgage, according to AP’s investigation.
    Paxton bought the Oklahoma luxury home in 2022, but failed to disclose the property in his required annual transparency report to the state, KUT News reported in 2023.

    Additionally, a Tampa, Florida home the Paxtons own, as well as four other properties across Hawaii, Utah, and Florida were not disclosed by Paxton, KUT News said.

  67. Recycle the brutal hits:

    YouTube thumbnail

    Elissa Slotkin’s 2024 attack ads against Mike Rogers are aging perfectly. Cashing in on DC favors to buy Florida mansions creates a stench you just cannot shake. Watch the playbook unfold.

  68. Kristi Noem and Corey Lewendowski were spotted at a spot in Wayzata, MN today. Why would they even come here after all the shit they put us through? What about Renee, Alex, and little Liam?

  69. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/04/judge-dismisses-jan-6-seditious-conspiracy-charges-against-oath-keepers/

    Judge dismisses Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy charges against Oath Keepers

    In a written ruling Tuesday, [Judge] Mehta said he was dismissing the Oath Keepers’ charges reluctantly at the request of the Justice Department. He criticized prosecutors for claiming in a court filing that wiping out the most serious convictions from the Jan. 6 riot was in the public interest.

    A federal judge on Tuesday agreed to dismiss the seditious-conspiracy case against the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, and seven other members of the extremist group who planned to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

    The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta is the last step in the legal process to wipe out penalties from the Jan. 6 riot, cementing President Donald Trump’s bid to unravel the largest federal investigation in U.S. history.

    Mehta had sentenced Rhodes to 18 years in prison and imposed lesser prison terms on other top Oath Keepers who were convicted at jury trials. Trump commuted those prison sentences on his first day in office last year, and he pardoned more than 1,500 rioters.

    The Justice Department, Mehta said, was simply bestowing the ringleaders behind the riot “unearned grace by wiping their records clean” after juries found them guilty of committing “crimes against the United States itself.”

    “The government does not say that the charges were legally deficient or that the evidence presented is insufficient to sustain Defendants’ convictions,” Mehta wrote. “It confesses to no prosecutorial misconduct, nor does it assert any denial or compromise of a defendant’s rights.”

    *Sounds like Judge Mehta did this under duress. The DOJ is mobbed up like the rest of the government under tRUMP.

  71. Like I asked this morning, how strong is the net? When a mob boss goes to the devil (and the clock is ticking), does the web of corruption weaken enough that anyone with even a tiny remnant of a soul start doing things the right way, and uphold their oath the US Constitution?

    Oh, the family is getting quite worked up about 9/11 and Iran. Iran? They must be using the 25th anniversary of 9/11 as a touchstone, and they are trying to attach new meaning to it. In this case, Iran.

  74. https://www.mediaite.com/politics/jasmine-crockett-dumps-cold-water-on-james-talaricos-texas-polling-surge-looks-like-status-quo/

    Jasmine Crockett dumps cold water on James Talarico’s Texas polling surge: ‘Looks like status quo’

    Here is what she told NBC News on Tuesday night:

    When I look at the money, if Republicans start spending money in Texas, then I’ll be convinced. But right now, national Republicans decided they wanted to dump money into North Carolina, as well as Georgia. That’s where they’re fighting, and national Democrats have not decided to dump money into Texas either… I look at: where does the NRSC stand? Where does DSCC stand?

    Right now, neither one are investing, which tells me that their internals are saying the same thing. So it looks like status quo. I won’t get on the ground to really start to feel it until maybe end of September, October, as I start to dig into which races I’m going to help out in, the races that I really feel like we can win.

    Axios reported:

    The private theory among top Republican officials has long been that Paxton, while scandal-plagued, doesn’t have the kind of problems that money shouldn’t be able to solve. The plan is to drive up Talarico’s negatives with Texas-sized ad buys and wait for GOP voters to come home.

  75. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/le-monde-africa/article/2026/08/04/african-states-pressured-by-us-to-leave-the-icc_6756132_124.html

    US pressures African states to leave ICC

    The Trump administration declared all-out war on the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, in mid-July, despite the fact that the US has never been a member.

    *You’ve gotta nice, little country there. It’d be a shame if anything happened to it.

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had announced it on July 13 in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal: “We will dismantle the ICC – brick by brick, if necessary.” Less than two weeks later, the first bricks fell: Venezuela on July 24, then Chad, on July 27, both announced withdrawal from the highest international court, based in The Hague.

  76. The US is in HUGE debt. The US is burning through its own munitions, so there’s nothing for you to buy & it CANNOT protect you.

    How were they threatened? Why did they comply?

    Why in the world is the world letting that demented, decaying pumpkin and his soulless Nazi ghouls strong-arm them? There’s never ANYTHING in it for anyone but the tRUMPs when it’s all said and done.

  78. Wigged out?

    Observers and journalists noted that his hair appeared to have significantly more volume and a different texture than usual.

  79. https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/weve-been-behind-the-ball-for-so-long-experts-say-dna-samples-from-crime-scene-forensics-can-be-modified-and-even-switched-using-an-ai-tool

    By using an AI model, the researchers were able to undetectably modify computerized scans of physical DNA evidence, exclusive Wall Street Journal reported. As the vulnerability relates to digital files made by crime labs since 1995, the vulnerability places 30 years of crime files at risk of being tampered with.

    “Effectively, what we have are data files that are legitimately referred to as the gold standard of forensic science that lack the same level of tamper-evident markings that we require for a paper bag,” said Laura Gaydosh Combs, a University of New Haven professor and forensic scientist who contributed to the research.

  80. https://www.themirror.com/news/politics/trump-humiliated-making-basic-spelling-1970446

    *Can we impeach this glitch and remove him from office already?

    Trump stood up to make his usual joke about the spelling of the word “dumb,” but he instead said, “nobody knows that ‘dumb’ doesn’t have a B.”

    “I watch your show all the time. Sometimes I tape it and watch it. It’s okay. I don’t know what they call it today. They used to call it TiVo. Maybe they still do. But I love TiVo or its equivalent,” the president said.

    During a speech at General Motors’ Milford Proving Grounds on July 27, Trump repeatedly stumbled over and mispronounced both the first and last names of his longtime political rival, Barack Obama.

    At the July NATO summit, Trump committed three major verbal errors in under ten minutes. Most notably, he referred to Iran as “the Islamic Republic of Japan” and struggled to recall the acronym for the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), repeatedly calling it the “JCP.”

    In an Oval Office press exchange regarding alleged vandalism of a White House pool, Trump forgot the word “videos” or “footage.” He repeatedly described them as “photographs, or tapes,” before gesturing with his hands and pointing to the press pool to clarify: “Like moving cameras, right?”

    During a press conference, Trump openly struggled to pronounce complex pharmaceutical names for IVF treatments, stumbling significantly over words like “gonal-f” and “pergoveris” before complaining directly to reporters about why drug names could not be simpler.

  81. Ivy – He definitely has a new rug. It looks like he’s wearing it on top of the old one.

    It’s like when Moira Rose wore a wig as a hat on top of another wig.

    Schitt’s Creek meets Shits Pants.

  82. can confirm gop strategy is always relentless attack ads, now on youtube and roku

    the voice-over people they get are soooo good, they really know how to sell it

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